The Forlorn Three
by Froggy-slice
Summary: It takes but a few bold moves by arrogant fools and the vengeance carried out by those wronged, to reveal all the skeletons and strip away nearly every ounce of respect and trust Konoha ever had. And for the three wronged...life uncaged sounds sweet.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: There are so many stories that have Naruto somehow gaining a great power after some form of abuse then leaving the village. This idea is like that but with a twist. What if Not only Naruto, but Sasuke and Sakura had gone through similar ordeals and left with him? **

**There's just not enough team seven fics out there ya know?**

**Hope you enjoy it.**

**Also Naruto is the age he SHOULD have been in cannon which is two years older than the other genin.**

**Chapter one**

**The forlorn three**

Not a day goes by that he doesn't think back to that day with sorrow.

The day all things went to hell for the village.

It had only been four months but those months were more than long enough to cause him to seriously consider going missing nin himself. Damn council. It was their fault this happened in the first place.

Oh well. He wouldn't be worrying about them anymore, considering they were dead, but not by his hand. Though he would have killed them anyway, what with all the crap that had been pulled behind his back. And he sure as hell couldn't blame the perpetrators either.

He thought back to the three responsible for the wave or fear and doubt tearing through the village, the easiest being one Uzumaki Naruto. Fourteen years old and jailer to the Kyuubi no yoko. He had failed his genin exam for the third time, was tricked into stealing the forbidden scroll by Mizuki and attacked by said teacher later. However things didn't go as planned for Mizuki. First of all the boy had decided to open the scroll and subsequently unlocked the terrifying weapon hidden inside.

Beautiful and destructive with the power of the Shinigami himself, the sword called Zanpakuto chose its master with the utmost care and finality, granting its new wielder the power to reap souls. A weapon so terrifying and deadly that no one dared approach it. And therefore it was sealed away. The goal was to lock it away forever. That goal obviously failed.

Naruto used the sword on Mizuki then vanished, taking the sword and the scroll with him, leaving behind a note with the unconscious Iruka saying, _"I can't stay her any longer. Sorry old man. There are some things this place has done that even I can't forgive. Maybe I'll see ya around someday."_

Iruka's headband had been taken as well.

He knew what it was. This intern caused him to think of the next person on the list to vanish. Uchiha Sasuke. Twelve years old and the last Uchiha left in the village.

He doesn't know how, but the young Uchiha had somehow found the true reason behind the Uchiha massacre. He didn't know this but apparently the boy had run to confront the elders and himself. But before he could get to him, Danzo intercepted him, knocked him out and whisked him away to his little underground menagerie of emotionless tools and whatever else he had down there. There he proceeded with some of the most vile and inhuman experiments and torture techniques ever thought of in an attempt to shut him up and bend him to his will. He couldn't outright kill the boy, due to the fact that Itachi would know almost immediately if his brother was killed. As it was this was a huge risk already.

This went on for five months, meanwhile a replica was placed in Sasuke's place outside to avoid suspicion. However that day four months ago marked the end of Danzo, Homura and Koharu.

The experiments caused Sasuke's Sharingan to awaken, mature then evolve.

More experiments mutated even that evolution into something more. Sasuke gained the power of the mangekyo and the ability to wield the yata mirror and the Sword of Totsuka along with the flame of Amaterasu and the ability to steal bloodline limits.

Around the time Naruto began fighting Mizuki, Sasuke awoke from his last bout of experimentation and ignited the entirety of the ROOT underground base in a mighty explosion of black that engulfed everything, leaving behind only ashes and panicked confusion. Using his new eyes and his new weapons he then proceeded to hunt down Danzo and the elders. It wasn't pretty. He found them with little difficulty. The chaos still raging due to Naruto's thievery of the scroll of sealing had them all out and about.

He terrified villager and ninja alike when he suddenly appeared behind and beheaded Koharu then proceeded to ignite Homura's place with Amaterasu, burning everyone inside alive including the old ninja to ashes in seconds. Some ninja tried to apprehend him, they perished too. The rest got the hell out of his way. Sasuke was pissed! And on a warpath!

He then sought out Danzo.

Oh!

But this was only the beginning!

It turns out the vileness extended beyond simply Danzo and his ex teammates. People were willing to do ANYTHING if it meant even a shred of fame or prestige or what the fuck ever.

The parents of Haruno were good examples of this. They sold their daughter to Danzo, hoping he may be able to make her into a "proper" ninja that would bring fame and honor to the family after seeing her become a hopeless fan girl. Danzo, being the compatriot of Orochimaru he was, made good on this opportunity and did similar experiments on the pink haired girl as he did Sasuke. She gained a unique ability alright.

But not the drive to be a, "proper ninja" she was so traumatized not only by the brazen selling by her parents but by the sick experiments done to her that she could do little more than sit huddled in her corner and cry. Her will and spirit were broken almost beyond repair.

It was during this time, when the facility she was being held underground in suddenly exploded into black fire that she gained a resolve. A need for revenge blossomed in her heart and she stood. She wretched the gate out of the wall in a display of physical strength that would have astounded anyone who had witnessed it and headed out, making sure to avoid the black flames that were consuming everything and making sure to ignore the pathetic cries of agony echoing all around her.

She arrived at her parent's house just as Sasuke found and attacked Danzo. Hell then proceeded to break loose.

The entire village became engulfed in destruction as Sasuke and Danzo battled it out. It gained the attention of every one, allowing Sakura to confront her traitorous parents uninterrupted.

She was angry, sad, confused even as she showed them what Danzo had done to her, her glowing eyes, hot pink and feline shone with all these emotions even as the intricate tribal looking markings covering from her right cheek down to her wrist. Pulsated and glowed red, even as she bared her elongated canines in a hungry snarl and attacked.

She left a note next to the withered husks of her parents explaining everything before she made her way to the exit of the village.

Just in time to witness Sasuke rip the Mokuton ability away from Danzo with his special eyes and seal the rest of his body into the sword of Totsuka leaving behind the numerous Sharingans he had implanted in himself which Sasuke then proceeded to burn away with a katon Jutsu. He then headed out, proclaiming what had happened and his reasons for his actions. Sakura had gasped and followed after him, out of the village and into the forest.

It was here that they witnessed Naruto sucking the soul out of a huge waretiger with a four foot long double edged purple crystal bastard sword with a baseball sized purple sphere at the end of the handle and physically transforming from that runt malnourished body into one that suites his age. He grew by nearly half a foot, his body suddenly gained a bit more mass to it and his eyes turned from bright blue to violet. The tips of his hair turned purple as well.

Naruto then proceeded to chant, as if in a trance, "Tora-San lives to hate, Neko-San deceives those who live. Bask in bitterness, Mizuki."

In a flash of light Naruto had then transformed again. His hair turned silver and fell limp around his face. His eyes turned golden. His teeth turned into fangs and his nails into claws. His ears transformed from normal ears into those of a tiger, a light layer of yellow and black striped fur grew on his forearms and backs of his hands and a tiger tail grew from the base of his spine. His weapon also transformed. It split in two and transformed into a pair of shuriken. One was a typical windmill style and the other was a folding demon wind. All of this was then followed by a burst of powerful purple chakra and a mighty roar.

It was quite the sight to see and the two made that known by gasping. Naruto then gasped as he saw them, his transformation vanishing in an instant. It took a second for them calm him down and when he was calm, he proceeded to question them. They then sat down to get explanations from each other.

Naturally Naruto chose to leave with them instead of heading back to the village. And he took the scroll, feeling Konoha didn't deserve it and left that note.

That was four months ago.

News of all that had been done and what had been the cause spread all over the village, then the country then the world.

Everyone talked about how Uchiha Sasuke, last loyal Uchiha had been deceived and his clan slaughtered on orders from the higher ups and how he had been tortured and experimented on until he gained the tools needed to escape, the legendary weapons used by the god Susano and the ability to steal the bloodline limits of others. About how Haruno Sakura was sold by her own parents and experimented on like some kind of science project until she gained a vampirism bloodline limit, escaped then used it on the ones responsible for her pain.

They talked about Uzumaki Naruto, the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no yoko, son of the legendary yellow flash and the bloody Habanero, about how he had taken the Konoha scroll of sealing and a weapon once used by the Shinigami after nearly being killed by a _teacher _of all people.

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke became known as the forlorn three, Leaf's tragic children.

Konohagakure no Sato lost a huge amount of credibility, respect and trust. The Forlorn three became the most sought after individuals in the world, their achievements, weapons and potential attracted…everyone. Even Iwa wanted them despite the fact that Naruto was the yondaime's son.

They became marked as B to A class threats in the bingo book.

There were fliers of them everywhere.

However since that day, the three have seemingly vanished off of the face of the shinobi nations. Sarutobi had no doubt in his mind that they were training, acquainting themselves with their new powers and weapons…as well as reading up on that scroll. He could only hope that they wouldn't return and go on a bloody crusade of Emo teen justice or whatever. Teens tended to be that way after events such as what had happened to them.

Though he was sure that Naruto could keep them in check in case something went wrong, Naruto wasn't treated horribly but he wasn't treated great either so he wasn't too emotionally fucked up. The villagers had never touched the boy but they did say things to him and they did tend to single him out in the academy.

On the other hand, Naruto obviously sided with the two, mounted with his own treatment and the knowledge of the Kyuubi as well as the knowledge of his parents (He has the scroll of sealing! There is NO WAY he doesn't know who they are now!) that was kept from him…

It's a coin toss. He could only hope it landed on the good luck side.

"_Wherever you three are. I hope you're finally happy."_

I sincerely wished this too.

It was the very least he could do for them, wish upon them a bit of good fortune.

Far away, on an island surrounded by ocean and covered in trees, a pair of purple eyes snapped open and a wide grin split the face of the owner of said eyes as an excited voice rang out.

"YES! I DID IT I DID IT!"

He sat up with a slight groan and stretched his muscles and popped his neck before he exited from his very comfortable hammock and made his way towards the excited squealing.

"Maa, Maa, Sakura-Chan do ya have to be so loud? This island aint that big ya know."

He stepped into the clearing where an excited pink haired girl with pigtails was hopping up and down. The boy made sure to keep his eyes on her face and not her bouncing assets gained because of her rapidly developing body changing to suit her bloodline. And the fact that she had a damn log three times as long as she was tall and twice and thick as she was slung over shoulder was only part of the reason.

She spun, nearly clipping him with the log and grinned at him. Her pink eyes gleamed with excitement and her fanged grin rivaled his own in largeness.

"Naruto!" she exclaimed, dropping the tree and making the ground shake.

There was a chuckle and Naruto spun to face the third inhabitant of the island. He was leaning against a tree sitting cross legged and twirling a rather large seed in his fingers. His eyes were closed.

"She created another jutsu," he said.

"Ah."

Sakura walked up to and sat down next to Sasuke while stealing one of his kunai.

"The only problem is that it destroys the weapon after I'm done." She pouted but also smiled as she stabbed her palm with said weapon and watched the blood pool up in her hand. Sakura then gained a look of slight concentration.

If anyone else were to see what happened next they'd gasp in wonder…or in horror.

The blood in Sakura's palm suddenly surged up and covered the kunai, morphing it from a simple kunai to a rather wicked looking short sword with a serrated edge.

Naruto looked on, impressed.

The jutsu lasted a couple of minutes until the metal of the kunai finally gave away and crumbled.

Sasuke placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as she slumped in disappointment.

"We'll have to get her a durable weapon."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "A chakra conductor weapon as that seems to be the missing element."

Sakura suddenly seemed a bit nervous. "Does that mean…we're leaving the island?"

Naruto smiled. "Yeah I guess it does." He frowned. "It would have been nice to stay longer but I really wanna see you complete that jutsu of yours." He grinned rather animalistic at her. "Besides I'm sure you're getting tired of our blood eh?"

Sakura blushed. "N-no! Yours and Sasuke-kun's blood is great! Really!"

"Uh huh, sure it is."

Sasuke chuckled at the two of them, even as he rose to his feet. "I'm ready to go. I still have to find my brother anyway."

Naruto nodded. Sakura gave a nervous smile but nodded anyway. The group then headed towards their home. It was a house grown using Sasuke's Mokuton ability. Inside they didn't have much, just their weapons and a couple of scrolls and their tattered clothing…if you could call it that.

Naruto looked at the remains of his clothing, laying scattered around his room in torn rags and said, "Gonna have to get some new clothes too."

They had abandoned most of their clothing a while ago, seeing as they had been reduced to rags from the vigorous training they put themselves through. As it was, Naruto was only dressed in his orange pants, pants that were frayed at the bottom and practically falling apart while Sakura wore a pair of tight black spandex shorts and a few meager stripes of cloth given by Sasuke and Naruto and produced by the remains of all three of their shirts to cover her breasts. Sasuke was dressed in a similar way as Naruto.

Casting those thoughts away, approached his only two possessions. The scroll of sealing lay leaned in a corner looking just as new as it did the day he stole it. Thinking back, he still can't believe he'd gotten it so easily.

His eyes drifted towards his other possession. The glinting purple sword sat on his bed emitting that aura of death like always. Zanpakuto was a truly amazing sword. He'd learned a lot about it from the info in the scroll of sealing. Once wielded by the Shinigami. It was gifted to a mortal man of great virtue generations ago. However not many are able to handle the blade. It scared everyone as time passed and he could understand that. But Naruto saw the potential. Zanpakuto stole the souls of his enemies and granted him a power and a new form with each soul. So far only Mizuki resided in the sword but the power boost he received from that transformation alone was amazing. What if he managed to absorb someone like Sasuke's brother? Or a kage? Or even one of the Biju? The thought excited him.

With a shrug and a grin, he strapped the scroll to his back and picked up Zanpakuto before he left his room.

Sasuke wasted no time. He had only two possessions, the Yata Mirror and the Sword of Totsuka. He strapped the impenetrable red shield to his back and strung the gourd/sword hilt to his waist and left.

Sakura only had a couple of scrolls that detailed the working of the three jutsu she'd managed to create using her bloodline limit. It was no secret among the trio that Sakura wanted to have a huge family and start a clan. And it was also no secret that she wanted to start this clan with Sasuke. Having clan specific scrolls were a vital part of any clan. She gathered them up, strapped them to her waist and headed back outside.

The three met back up outside and gave smiles and respectful nods.

It had been a bit of a stressful four months. Sakura's traumatized mind alone took an entire month to fix to some extent while Naruto and Sasuke were not all that comfortable around each other. They had left Konoha in a hurry with nothing more than the clothes and weapons on their backs and nothing more than brief snippets of info about each other, and ran nonstop until they reached this island. It was a drab quarter mile wide barren chunk of land about ten miles off the shore of Wave country but a quick use of Mokuton had transformed it into an ideal hiding/training place. It was here that the group suffered through their nightmares, comforted each other and came to terms with all that had happened while practicing what abilities they had while studying and learning new ones.

The scroll of sealing had been a gold mine, especially concerning Naruto. He was the son of the Yondaime Hokage eh? Who knew? There was also a great deal of information about the Shiki fujin and the yondaime's signature techniques, Rasengan and flying thunder god. Damn old man had hid a lot from him it seems, especially the fact that he had a godfather? One that hadn't bothered to man up and do his duty as a godfather? Oh yeah. Jiraiya of the sannin was fuckin toast if they ever met. As it was he was tempted to let Sasuke return to Konoha and finish is revenge by offing the old man, that asshole.

Sasuke also learned most of the Mokuton jutsus listed in the scroll.

But now…it was time to go. They had progressed amazingly far but they knew it was time to stop hiding. They didn't know where they would go but they would go.

Besides they had a weapon to find for Sakura. She'd been more than a little put out lately about the fact that only she didn't have one. And that new Jutsu pretty much demanded one now.

"We'll head to wave and get some new clothes first," began Naruto with a grin. "Then we'll find Sakura-Chan a good weapon."

"Hn,"

"Yeah!"

With a grin, Naruto turned towards their boat, followed by Sasuke and Sakura and they headed back towards Wave.

"So you understand what you're to do then?

A tall man with a huge blade strapped to his back gave a grunt and a nod, as did the two other men while the young woman simply nodded.

"Don't worry Gato as soon as that geezer returns he's done for."

"Heh heh, good."

****

**So! **

**Tell me what ya thought eh?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two**

**Encounters in Wave**

Stepping into a village wearing nothing but the scraps of your clothing and a couple of weapons and scrolls…at young ages no less, should have been seen as odd.

Stepping into wave's village... yes it was seen as odd, but only because of their weapons and scrolls. Their clothing oddly fit right in.

"What the hell happened here?" asked Naruto as the three made their way through the town. The place was a wreck; the people looked broken, wallowing in poverty forced upon them.

This was FAR from the image they had seen the last time they had passed through Wave. Sakura was looking around with wide sad eyes.

"They're scared of us," she muttered as they continued to walk. The people were indeed scared of them. They could see people hiding in corners, peeking fearfully from their homes and anyone they did manage to stumble upon outside quickly vanished.

Something was up. And if something was up… "dammit I can't in good conscious steal any clothes from these poor saps."

"W-what! You were going to steal!"

Naruto gave Sakura a deadpan look. "Well yeah, unless you have any money we can use to buy them?" When she didn't answer he shrugged. "Yeah I didn't think so. But that's all a moot point now isn't it?"

Before anyone could respond they were surrounded by several looking thugs wielding various weapons such as clubs, knives and katanas.

"Heh you three are quite ballsy, strolling around the village with such valuable looking items in your possession. Been holding out on Gato have ya?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow while Sakura suddenly looked a bit nervous and sought out Sasuke for comfort.

"Who the hell is Gato?" he asked. The thugs snorted in disbelief. These brats didn't know? Heh they'd know soon enough.

"That doesn't matter," began one thug. "What matters is what we're here for. Hand over the scrolls and the weapons and none of ya gets hurt." They puffed out their chests in a further attempt to look intimidating.

This made Naruto stare for thirty seconds, the sounds of crickets could be heard in the background.

Then he burst into laughter. Sakura began to giggle as well while Sasuke chuckled. Naturally this pissed off the thugs.

"Hey! Do you know who you're pissing off ya little bastards!"

Naruto looked over at Sasuke and Sakura. "Well guys I think we just solved our clothing issue."

"Are you kidding me! They freakin reek!" yelled Sakura.

"So wash em," was Naruto's careless reply. Sakura went to speak again but a club suddenly smashed into the top of Naruto's head. The wood splintered and broke in two and opened up a gash in the boy's skull.

"Itai! What the fuck man!" screamed Naruto as he clutched his throbbing skull. The thug who attacked gave a smug grin and began to talk some smack. "Serve you right you little- BAM!

Only to be interrupted by said blonde's foot smashing into his face, shattering his nose and breaking his face bones with a series of sickening crunches.

"Teme!" yelled Naruto. "Freakin die!"

He then drew Zanpakuto…

The people of wave would later arrive to find a pile of severely beaten Gato thugs moaning pathetically about a purple demon from hell. They would also notice that all of them were missing one or more article of clothing, all of their weapons AND their money. One guy would later die due to bone chunks lodging in his brain, and one random orphan boy would approach the thugs slowly and cautiously and nudge one of them with a foot. "Hey. You guys alive?" He'd get groans as answer. The kid would then pause, grin widely and yell, "You guys got knocked the fuck out!" then proceed to "loot" the rest of the thug's clothing and run off.

One guy did manage to avoid the beat down and ran off to tell his precious Gato-Sama what the hell he'd just seen.

(…)

Sakura couldn't help but giggle as Naruto furiously scrubbed the filth from his pilfered clothing in the sea on the edge of the beach. His head was wrapped up in strips of tan cloth and his eyebrow was still twitching furiously. Sasuke was sitting a bit further up the beach, basking in the sun but one could see the amused smile on his lips as well.

"Damn bandits. Who the hell do they think they're messing with? DAMMIT HAVE ANY OF THESE ASSHOLES EVER HEARD OF A FREAKIN BATH!" His head throbbed. "Fuck!" he exclaimed as he clutched his skull again. That damn club felt like it had nails in it!

Sakura's giggles increased in volume even as she played with the three katanas she'd jacked from the thugs. The swords were definitely of lower quality and wouldn't last more than ten minutes covered in her chakra infused blood but it was better than nothing right? Practice makes perfect after all. And now they had a bit of money. They could buy a meal instead of stealing it. Not that there was much to buy in Wave anyway. They were better off hunting actually.

"Ah ha! Yelled Naruto suddenly as he pulled a very clean looking pair of brown pants from the water, followed by a tight black shirt and a cloak. The purple tipped blonde looked to Sasuke. "Ya mind?" he asked, sounding expectant.

Sasuke sighed and gave a lazy hand motion. A small tree bare of leaves sprang up from the sand a second later. Naruto grinned. "Thanks," and hung his wet laundry from the tree. He then headed over to the last piece that would complete his outfit, a simple samurai style black chest plate and hung that from the tree as well. "Gonna miss the orange," he muttered, actually sounding sad. Sasuke snorted. "I won't."

"Of course you won't. You're a damn hater."

"I won't miss it either," said Sakura. "Why you wore that thing I'll never know."

"It's the same reason you dye your hair pink, Sakura-Chan."

"Dammit my hair is natural!"

"Uh huh, sure it is."

"Screw you!"

"I thought you wanted to screw Sasuke? Besides I'm like two years older than you, perhaps when it aint so awkward. Like when I'm twenty and you're eighteen."

A rock smashed into his head with the force of a train and sent him skipping across the water like a skipping stone…only to disappear in a puff of smoke.

Naruto thanked the Kamis above at least three times a day for the marvelous blessing he found in the scroll called Kage Bunshin.

"Jeez Sakura-Chan I thought we were past this point in our relationship. Sasuke's never gonna accept you at this rate. You're too violent."

He ducked under her left hook, idly noting the great rush of wind that blew his hair about like a twister and leapt away with a laugh.

"SHUT UP!" Naruto had to dodge the trio of katana flying at his face.

"And you just lost your weapons, Baka! Hahahahahaha!"

"ARRRRGGHHH!"

Sasuke just sighed and continued basking in the sun.

(-)

As they made their way towards the Wave with their client, a client who had nearly gotten them killed by the way with false info, team Gai opted to think more about the future. The info Tazuna had finally relieved, the TRUE info stated that he had run afoul with Gato of all people, an unbelievably wealthy man who ran numerous businesses, both well known and extremely shady. Apparently Gato didn't take too kindly to Tazuna's bridge to the main land and has hired this small group of missing ninjas consisting of the demon brothers, Momochi Zabuza and a skilled false hunter nin.

The only reason they continued onwards is because Konoha needed all the missions they could get and this particular team wasn't so weak and inexperienced that they couldn't handle it…hopefully. It was actually surprising when the bridge builder showed up looking for an escort. He'd obviously hadn't heard of the…"incident" of four months ago. Konoha needed to do this in order to gain at least one steady line of clients. Wave would no doubt become a pretty rich area once the bridge was completed and eventually someone would ask for Gato's ass to be taken out, something they could charge a nice sum for.

Fighting the demon brothers had been easy enough. Fighting Zabuza had nearly been a disaster. Luckily Gai sensei proved to be a bit stronger than Zabuza and had pulled out the win. The hunter nin that took his body revealed to them that he or she was an accomplice when instead of beheading the supposed corpse of Zabuza after dropping his ass with senbon needles, opted to take the body away instead.

After that, they made it to Wave and Tazuna's place with no incident where they met Tsunami and Inari and began to train a bit more for the coming conflict.

"It's useless," muttered the brooding little boy, gaining the attention of the Konoha ninjas.

"All that supposed training and determination is useless against Gato. He's too powerful. You'll die."

Neji simply crossed his arms while Tenten scoffed. "Unless Gato is an extremely powerful ninja, then he's no threat to us, especially against Gai-sensei." She shrugged. "So don't sweat it. We got this."

"Shut up!" he yelled shooting to his feet. "What do you know huh! Living your pampered life in your high and mighty ninja village! What do any of you know of suffering!"

He froze at the smoldering look given to him by Neji.

"More than you know gaki. So shut up."

The boy glared at him then rushed out the front door before anyone could think.

"Inari!" yelled Tsunami but it was too late. Tenten just sighed as Neji continued to eat his meal.

(-)

Gato was in the middle of scolding Zabuza for his apparent failure when a distraught looking thug barged in.

"G-gato!" he exclaimed as he breathed heavily and looking a bit scared. "There are…three strangers in the village!"

Gato resisted the urge to slap this idiot upside the face.

"Of course there are you dumbass! Tazuna hired some ninja to protect him!"

The thug, if possible looked even more scared. "N-no! These were just brats. There were three of them. They looked a bit lost and we thought they were citizens who were holding out on you because of their weapons. But those weren't kids. They were something else! Demons I tell you! DEMONS!" A slap to the face snapped him out of it.

"Get a hold of yourself! You're a grown man! Show us that you have a pair jeez!" Yelled Gato.

Zabuza raised an amused nonexistent eyebrow.

"What did they look like?" he asked. The thug eyed the fearsome looking missing nin for a second before he began to speak. "Well…the leader had blond hair with purple tips…"

(-)

Inari ran and ran and ran some more, tearing through the village without a thought or a care as to where he was going. Just who did that white eyed ass wipe think he was? Looking down on him like that? He felt like crying. He was pretty close to crying actually.

Wham!

"Ow! What the heck?"

Inari, having just smashed his forehead into what felt like a damn wall, gasped as the voice spoke out. He looked up with wide eyes into the shining purple orbs of a blonde teenager. Inari froze in fear upon seeing the weapon, armor and cloak the guy was wearing, thinking he was one of Gato's thugs.

"Eh? What's a kid doin running around this late in the evening? You an orphan? Hmm you don't look like it."

Inari continued to stare. The blonde raised an eyebrow. "I aint one of those stupid bandits if that's what you think." he said. This snapped Inari out of it and he jumped to his feet.

"Who…who are you?" he asked.

The blonde chuckled. "Just a guy passing through really, who are you?"

The kid hesitated. "I-inari," he said. The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Inari? Heh imagine that."

"Hey what's that supposed to mean!"

The blonde waved him off. "Nothing much Kid. Relax."

"Oh…"

It got awkwardly silent for a second.

"So kid, wanna talk about it?"

Inari looked up at him, shocked. The blonde chuckled. "I saw you looking like you were ready to cry. C'mon kid spill. No use bottling up those emotions. "

Inari wanted to deny the mysterious blonde but relented.

"It's…just these ninjas…"

(-)

Gato suddenly felt a bit worried when Zabuza pulled out his bingo book and began to flip through the pages at a near frantic rate, looking both excited and shocked.

"Ah! Here we go," he said as he held the book out to the thug. "These the brats you saw?" he asked. When the thug grew pale and nodded, Gato felt the pit of his stomach drop. Any ninja in a bingo book was bound to be a threat and three of them? Here? And not working for him? Freaking crap! He turned to Zabuza.

"Who are they?" he asked.

Zabuza grinned and sat up, shaking the concerned hand of his apprentice from his shoulder.

"Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto, they are listed as B to A rank threats from Konohagakure no Sato with a warning to approach with caution." He paused. Perhaps for dramatic effect? Who knows?

"They left the village four months ago shortly after becoming genin and left Konoha in near ruins and chaos. They are the reason Konoha has lost so much of their so called prestige." He showed the pictures to Gato who actually laughed. "These brats? You had me all worked up over three damn kids?"

Zabuza growled. "Those three kids are powerful dumbass!" He said. "The day they left they not only gained extremely powerful bloodlines and weapons, they also took Konoha's scroll of sealing, the scroll containing all the kinjutsu, information and secrets of the most powerful ninja village in the world, and this is AFTER they killed several treasonous people including the infamous Shimura Danzo, Utakane Koharu and numerous ninja and civilians. They are NOT to be taken lightly!"

He pointed to their individual biologies and smirked. "Read."

And Gato did.

Uchiha Sasuke: B to A-class threat.

Age: 12

Rank: Genin.

Kekkei Genkai: New type of Sharingan and the Mokuton. Has the ability to steal more.

Weapons: Yata Mirror, Sword of Totsuka

Special notes: The sword of Totsuka is an extremely dangerous offensive weapon with the power to seal anything away and the yata mirror is the ultimate defensive weapon capable of blocking any attack without fail. Uchiha Sasuke also has the power to use the flames of Amaterasu, flame so hot they can burn for seven days and can burn regular fire.

Part of the Forlorn Three

Approach with great caution.

Haruno Sakura: presumed B class threat at minimum.

Age: 12

Rank: Genin

Kekkei genkai: Vampirism, allows her to suck the life blood from other living beings to increase her over all abilities.

Weapons: assumed she has none.

Special notes: Her physical power rivals or surpasses that of even Tsunade so assuming she is weak is foolish. It is also believed that she can manipulate blood.

Special characteristics are glowing hot pink feline eyes and fangs.

Approach with caution.

Part of the Forlorn Three

Uzumaki Naruto: B to A class threat

Age: 14

Rank: Genin

Weapons: Zanpakuto

Kekkei Genkai: None

Special notes. Uzumaki Naruto's weapon has the power to absorb the soul and add its power to its wielder in the form of a unique transformation and power boost. It is presumed that the more powerful the entity absorbed, the more power the transformation.

Special notes B: He is Minato Namikaze's son.

Special notes C: Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko. If it is confirmed that Uzumaki has used Zanpakuto on the Kyuubi, then assume he is an S ranked threat and do NOT piss him off.

Part of the Forlorn Three.

Gato had gone pale midway through reading Sakura's bio and when he was done, only had one thing to ask.

Even he had heard of things like the Kyuubi, the flames of Amaterasu and the strength of Tsunade of the Sannin. And knowing that people who possess these things were in HIS village? A DISASTER waiting to happen! Gato hadn't gotten where he was by being stupid…for the most part. And he knew there were only usually two options when dealing with this type of threat. Appeal to them and somehow get them on your side…or get the hell outta dodge.

"What…the HELL are people like that doing here!"

The Swordsman shrugged. "Beats me, they're probably here on vacation or something."

"This is no joking manner dammit! I aint paying you to b a jester!"

"Shut the hell up! We'll deal with it when the time comes! Forlorn three or not Tazuna will die got it?"

Gato just glared and stalked off.

Zabuza turned to his apprentice. "While you're out gathering herbs for me, seek out the forlorn three and talk to them. I want to know what they are doing here, and if possible what they plan on doing in the future."

The young woman suddenly looked unsure. "Zabuza-Sama…are…are you sure? Those three are…"

"_Fuckin unstable threats that scare the shit out of me," _is what she'd wanted to say. There was NO WAY…

Zabuza gave her a stern look. "Just do it."

She sighed in resignation. "Y-yes…Zabuza-Sama."

The demon of the mist gave a grin. The forlorn three… What a golden opportunity too large to pass up. And he was sure he could…appeal to them. They were after all, distraught children.

He suppressed an excited chuckle.

(-)

"Ah, so that's it," said Naruto as he and Inari sat on the dock watching the sunset.

Inari nodded. "Yeah…I just got so…well, mad. You know?"

Naruto smiled and ruffled the boy's hair. "Hey don't sweat it. Watching their dad get tortured and killed would traumatize any kid." Inari looked up at him with wide eyes. "It's okay to feel sad, or angry. Hell, I can understand why you would think this Gato jerk is unbeatable. He's got that kind of image planted in your mind and the minds of the villagers."

Inari looked down feeling slightly ashamed.

"But not to worry," he said. "Gato aint all that strong. Otherwise he wouldn't need a buncha panzy ass bandits and a desperate missing nin to watch over him." He smiled.

"And besides, Sasuke, Sakura and I are here. If Gato tries anything or shows himself while your ninja body guards are dealing with the enemy ninja we'll take him out. And if your bodyguards fail then we'll take care of the enemy ninja too."

Inari went to protest but he was cut off by Naruto. "No worries man. Now go on. Get back home your mom must be worried sick."

Overwhelmed, Inari could only nod dumbly and amble back towards his house. Naruto chuckled.

"Good kid," he said before he walked off. Sakura should be calm by now.

(-)

The next day found Zabuza's apprentice collecting herbs in the forest. She had began the task assigned to her first thing in the morning, though she had yet to find any signs of the Forlorn three or the ninjas guarding Tazuna. Truthfully, her heart went out to the Forlorn Three, even if they terrified her.

She had heard too many damn rumors and stories about that faithful day, not to mention seen their mugs posted in the bingo book as well as on fliers all over the darn world proclaiming a huge rewards and what not for anyone who could convince them to join one village or another NOT to be terrified of them!

Her own past life of suffering made for kindred spirits. Deep down, she knew she wanted to talk to them as much as for her own reason as Zabuza's. She wondered what they were like. Clearly they were less peaceful than she was…and clearly prone to snap at anytime. I mean really. Haruno Sakura had hunted down and killed her parents, DELIBERATELY while Sasuke was slaughtering old conniving ninja in the middle of the village for ALL to see, while Naruto was sucking the soul out of a TEACHER! She could never do something like that but she could understand why they did it. The story of the Forlorn Three was well known by everyone.

And she also knew that whatever Zabuza-Sama had planned for them just wasn't going to go as well as he seemed to believe. She just hoped things didn't turn out…too horribly. Zabuza tends to have a negative effect on people and she sure as hell didn't want to get on the bad side of the Forlorn Three. Finding out what getting her bloodline limit, soul or bodily fluids sucked out would feel like was definitely not on her to do list.

With a light sigh, she gathered a bit more of the herbs needed for Zabuza's treatment. How…complicated all of this had suddenly become.

"Hmm? Who are you?"

Haku froze midway through picking an herb. Standing right in front of her was Uchiha Sasuke, the bloodline stealing member of the forlorn three. Where the hell did he come from! The boy was standing on a branch to a tree, looking down at Haku with surprised eyes. He was dressed in the clothing and armor of a bandit and his hair was noticeably longer than it was in his bingo book photo.

"U-Um…"

Haku immediately lost her ability to form a coherent sentence due to a sudden rush of anxiety at being stumbled upon by this potential foe with so little to defend herself.

The Uchiha eyed her a couple more seconds before he sighed and turned to leave, annoyed at her silence.

"W-wait,"

And paused as her voice finally gained enough volume to catch his attention.

"Hn?"

Haku knew that pausing would only drive him away, annoyed, so she manned up and spoke.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke's eyes promptly widened. "What the hell? When did I tell you my name? Who are you?"

Haku felt a bit of adrenalin course through her body as Sasuke stiffened up and narrowed her eyes at him. Then she relaxed when said Uchiha took a deep breath and seemed to relax. "Hn, I guess it's only natural you know my name. My…departure from Konoha wasn't at all subtle."

Haku found herself nodding.

"Indeed, Uchiha-San. You and the rest of the forlorn three are well known throughout the nations."

Her breath hitched when he tensed again and looked t her with those eyes…the mangekyo sharingan. She stared into those eyes and felt something within her pull towards him. It was…frightening. Them the Uchiha deactivated his eyes and seemed to materialize before her.

"Explain," he practically demanded. Haku could only nod and pull out a copy of the latest bingo book.

Where she had that thing hidden would forever b a mystery…

(-)

Sakura examined her arm with a thoughtful look upon her face while idly playing around with her swords. Her eyes trailed up and down the markings covering her limb and she unconsciously touched the cheek that was also marked. She was so different than she had been back then.

She had fully come to understand how useless she had been, wasting all of her career trying to gain the attention of Sasuke, competing with the other girls like a bunch of idiotic banshees. With a pang of anger and sadness, she jammed one of the swords into the ground.

Her parents could have just told her that! Sat her down, had a true Kunoichi come in and set her straight or something. But no they had let their greed get the better of them, resulting in all the crap that came next. Thinking about her parents still made her body ache with anger and sorrow.

Thinking about Danzo still made her shutter in fear. She would forever be at Sasuke's side, adoring him like a lowly fool adores a god because he had saved her from that hell. Naruto too. The two boys were her pillars of strength.

With a sigh, she dismissed her depressing thoughts and stood. No use sitting there pondering when she could be doing something more useful like figuring out what that hell happened to Wave.

"Ah, there you are. Calm now are you Sakura-Chan?" The pink haired girl looked up and saw Naruto ginning down at her from his position in a tree. She felt a flash of annoyance but quelled it with a sigh.

"Yeah, yeah," she said dismissively, making the purple tipped blonde grin. "So what's up?"

Naruto shrugged. "Not much, met a kid named Inari, found out what happened to this place and learned about a team of ninjas sent to protect someone named Tazuna."

Sakura's eyes took on a determined glint. "Explain," she said.

(-)

"So…that it, is it?" asked Sasuke as he handed the bingo book back to Haku while looking contemplative. His companions and he were called the Forlorn three? Why does it have to sound so badass yet so damn emo at the same time? Who comes up with these titles anyway?

Though being listed as an A rank threat was pretty flattering…even if it was true.

"Yes," she began. "Zabuza-Sama believes he can also work out a deal with you. Form a partnership if you will."

Sasuke nodded. However his thoughts were FAR from making any form of partnership with the hidden mist missing ninja. Are you kidding? With all the shit they'd recently been through? Like he's throwing out any trust that friggin soon! However he couldn't let opportunity like this slip by either, so while giving Haku a hungry look that made her shutter a bit, he spoke. "I'll talk to Naruto and Sakura about it and see what we come up with."

Then he was gone leaving Haku to silently lament. _"Horrible Idea! This is a horrible idea! I just know it!" _she thought.

Yes, even a loyal tool sometimes questions the intelligence of her wielder.

****

**AN: Heh. Took me a while to get this out but its here now. I will TRY not to take so long with the next chapter. **

**Lemme know what you thought.**


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